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Alicia makes a little humming noise, the one that tells me she’s scrolling. “Nope. Just that one. Well. That series… Oh, wait. I’m clicking on a new one—JUST NIPPING UP TO THE PENTHOUSE FOR A QUICKIE— and it’s… That’s weird. It’s gone now.”
“It’s gone? Like, gone-gone?” It’s not hope I feel, but it’s something.
“Yeah. I just refreshed that image search and…that one’s gone, and so are the Jaguarones.” She says it jag-you-are like in the commercials to make me laugh. But I can’t.
“Well. That’s… Um... That’s good, I guess. But I took screenshots of everything. I’ll—” That’s what I was doing while Mariano was on the phone with Pippa: taking screenshots, even as she saidher peoplewould take it all down. Anddamn. They have.Fast. Maybe there’s at least hope all this won’t turn into something bigger. Maybe my screenshots will just be the evidence proving the ways Mariano lied to me rather than the proof Mummy needs to shoot me down. Again. All this proves is I’m exactly who she thinks I am, and Ihate it.“I was going to say I’ll send my screenshots to you, but… I don’t think I should. These paparazzi assholes can hack into just about anything.”
“So, are you going to tell me what happened? Because right now it just looks like you got caught in a fab car doing sexy shit to a guy I thought was your boyfriend? What’s the big deal?”
“He lied to me.” The tears start back up. “He told me he never did anything with that middle-aged richie-rich, but those penthouse ones were pictures of him with her, too! I’ve got it right here on my phone. He’s in an elevator. At a hotel. With her and with some couple he said were just nice fans. I was all set to believe him, but then I found a picture of him with his hands all over the fan’s boobs right after he’d just finished telling me about how it was all nothing, and hownothing happenedwith the patroness-lover or that fan. Which obviously wasn’t true. Hesignedher boobs.”
“Okaaay.” She doesn’t get it.
“It’s the lie, Alicia. If he lied about signing the woman’s boobs, then what else is he lying about? There’s pictures of him with everyone and he—” I stop short of saying he’s looking at every single woman like she’s the only one in the room, the way he looks at me. But I was there last night. I saw the difference. That was real. But what does it matter how he looks at me when the second I’m not around he’s fondling some other woman’s boobs.
“Have you told him who you are? That his boss is your mom? That…”
“You’re supposed to be on my side! Not his!” I’m still running, my muscles are all moving, my breath is rasping in my lungs, but I feel like everything inside me has frozen. This is not what Alicia was supposed to say.
“Iamon your side! Listen to me. You’ve been having mind-blowing sex with this man—I can only assume because you’ve otherwise fallen off the face of the earth.”
I make a strangled sound.
“Is that you agreeing with me or dying because you’re still for some unknown reason running a marathon you haven’t trained for?”
“I’m a terrible friend.”
“Yeah, I know. We already covered that. But—amiright or amiright? Because I’m pretty sure the fact you didn’t dish to your Dish-Lish—forhow manydays?—means the sex was really hot.”
“Yeah—it was… The best I’ve ever… Like, by a freaking moon shot.” My throat constricts. But I’m out of the trees now and the open expanse that leads down past the pond and over to Dottie’s looks endless. I break back into a run.
“And you care about him enough that you say your heart is fucking broken, but it sounds like all he did was sign some fan’s saggy boobs, like hot celebs are asked to do all the time. Is that it? Because, if it is… I just don’t see why you can’t give him the benefit—I mean, you haven’t told him it’s your mom’s business you’re both working for, have you? Isn’t that just as bad a lie? Worse prob—”
I hang up on her. I don’t know if it’s tears of rage and heartbreak or both, but there’s no stopping them, that’s for sure. I tear down the slope, running so hard the seam on my dress protests, then rips.
I have to get to Dottie’s. Fast. She’ll know what to do. She’ll understand why the lies matter so much. But no sooner do I think that than a crashing sounds comes from the woods I just left.
“Lolly!Por favor! Stop!”
It’s Mariano.
A TERRIFYING DISPLAY
Lolly Benoit. Aunt Dottie’s Dower House. The Cotswolds, England.
Imake it through Aunt Dottie’s garden gate before Mariano is even close. That’s one great thing about Aunt Dottie—she knew about the importance of security before there were security systems for every Tom, Dick, and Harry. Her gate locks from the inside and the key is in the lock. I turn it.
It’s tempting to just head to the arbor with the built-in benches and stay there. But I’m going to have to tell Dottie what’s happened at some point. She’ll know exactly what to do if my name gets attached to Mariano’s in an unsavory way. Besides, I can’t bear to stay in my wet dress a second longer, and I desperately need snuggles from Mr. Wiggins.
Someone—Mariano, I suppose—jiggles the garden gate from the outside, but the latch holds fast.
Aunt Dottie is at her breakfast table, the day’s papers spread about her, when I barge in. Mr. Wiggins dashes out from under Dottie’s table, tail wagging furiously as he barks and spins circles and jumps up on my shins, while Dottie takes in my wet dress and disheveled hair. “Goodness darling, whatever have you gotten up to? Idohope it was good fun.”
But before I answer—not that I can even think how: itwasgood fun, until it really wasn’t?—I scoop Wiggins into my arms, at which point he tries to lick whatever bit of exposed skin he can find, which is rather a lot.
“I know, Wiggy-Woo, I missed you too.” Talking to Mr. Wiggins is the only way I can avoid Aunt Dottie, who is looking at me with a peculiar intensity, the kind which tells me she has questions I can’t escape answering. “I was gone ever so long, wasn’t I? Oh yes, I was, and I’m terribly sorry.” I’ve flipped back into English-English, the language of my youth.
“Right. Well, Charlotte. The care of your dog is one topic I should like to discuss later, along with the subject of your lodgings here with me.”
